Farrel: Ladies' Day Out

[Jack Rothwell]

OOC Double post due to boredom. PM me if stuff needs adjusting./OOC

Jade's question went unanswered; the reply on Jasmine's lips died as they crested on a hill that presented a more panoramic view of the surrounding countryside. The blacksmith didn't need to turn her head to know the other women were staring intently as well. There it was; the base the patrol had described to them. A curving structure of domes and smaller, rectangular buildings that peppered the ground below all the way up to the main structure. Which was an impressive looking thing which spoke of the designer's fetish for elven architecture. It was too far to mark the details, but Jade wouldn't have been surprised if there were a few scantily clad statues leaning out from the slopes and waves that made up the building's walls and ornate patterns embroidering what would've otherwise been a fairly respectable construction.

"Bloody mages..."

Despite this, all attention was inexorably drawn to what was running around the smaller structures leading to the 'headquarters' of the operation. From their vantage point they could pick out dozens of those aggrivating magic-users patrolling around, some with staffs, others with weirder looking weapons the blacksmith couldn't specify from the distance. Interlacing the patrols were the unmistakable shapes of blue golems like the ones she, Jaime and Ace had run into earlier. They looked, if anything, thicker limbed and meaner (if the term could be applied) than the ones at the previous encounter, as if some psychotic model fanatic had brought an accessory kit for each one and skipped a nights sleep to give them the upgrade. A blade that resembled something off an industrial machine winked at her in the sunlight.

It was certainly enough to put any plans of going in guns blazing out of the question. Jade finished the ciggarette she'd been constructing (apparently without any consultation from her brain) since they'd stopped and put the end in her mouth. She patted herself down for a match.

"So...any ideas?"

[Sareth]

[OOC]Like Graybeard, I'm going to be out of pocket for the next few days. I'll try to get some good postiness up upon my return. Right now I'm a touch too under the influence of one hell of a fine microbrew to post anything intelligent...[/OOC]

[Graybeard]

"They are hunting again, my uncle," Scrobian said as he watched the airship hover above the ridge northeast of them. [OOC: Remember that there are THREE ridges between the trolls and the ladies. /OOC:]

"So they are," Grope replied, "but I don't think they're hunting us." The trolls made themselves as invisible as possible -- it couldn't hurt, and his assessment of the situation might be wrong -- and settled down to watch what the Tsuirakuans were up to.

[OOC: Back in full contact tomorrow, and I obviously have a lot of catching up to do...]

[Sareth]

Jamie contemplated the orb for a few moments. Then she shrugged, drew her weapon, and shot it.

Nera made an odd sound.

"Yes," Jamie replied, "I know it will attract their attention. I'm kind of counting on it."

****

Further back, on the ridge, Jasmine opened her mouth to reply to Jade's question. Before she could get anything out, however, alarms began to sound in the compound. The woman sighed. "Drat that child..."

[Jack Rothwell]

"Drat that child..."

Jade let loose a stream of obscenities that would've earned a stern lecture from either of her parents, had they still been alive. The tree's seemed to spring to life as the security network that damned girl had triggered started to flash their warning beacons across the woodland in eyeball-searing beams of light. The blacksmith would've taken time to fantansise about the violence she wanted to inflict upon the world in general at this pain-in-the-ass turn of events but there simply wasn't time to waste.

From their vantage point they could see the factory's defenses spreading out in search of the breach. The good news about this was that at the main base itself the potential trouble was thinning out rapidly, the bad news was that a fair chunk of said defenses were now headed directly towards them.

The only real question was whether they'd hold their position, retreat or try to sneak through the Tsuirakuans ranks.

[Graybeard]

[OOC: OK, back in contact and almost caught up...]

Grope and the other trolls heard the shot, too. "At least we don't have to worry about that," he said to Scrobian and Harzh'biah. "Long way away, and it didn't sound like it was large enough -- I think the Small Ones say 'caliber' to do us damage." There was a mildly amusing pun in his analysis: the human word "caliber" sounded very much like the trolls' term for a stink bug.

Scrobian wasn't so sure. "But my uncle, what if the Small Ones who use magic and the Small Ones who use Thundering Metal Things have linked up? Couldn't that be dangerous for us?"

"Maybe," Grope had to admit. "It's unlikely, though. The Small Ones don't work that way. Their tribes aren't like ours, they're much bigger and cover more ground. The big tribe that uses magic doesn't like Thundering Metal Things very much, and I'm pretty sure that airship is theirs. Anyway, it's going the other way."

Indeed it was; the airship the trolls had seen was lifting into the air and moving back toward the camp... and then the alarms started to go off.

---------

Faye saw it too, as it passed in front of the sun and cast a shadow. "Surveillance!" she called. "Time to keep our heads down, way down."

[Sareth]

The group of Tsuirakuans and hired mercenaries that responded to the downed orb found the shattered remnants immediately. Several of them fanned out, looking for whoever had destroyed the device, while several others examined it.

"Gunfire. Look, smudges of lead." One of the mercenaries held up a piece of the orb. A tale tell streak of grey was smeared across the surface.

"We really do need to gun proof these." One of the Tsuirakuans sighed. "We're so used to thinking about real weapons. It's amazing how vulnerable they are to primitives."

The gun bearing Farrelite mercenary next to him scowled, but said nothing.

"We caught a brief image before the orb was destroyed," the Tsuirakuan continued. "A smaller figure with some sort of bundle. The details weren't clear, however. He had only stepped into range when he fired and the orb was still adjusting."

"Tracks!" One of the mercenaries waved. "Over here!"

"Where do they head away to?" spoke another Tsuirakuan, slightly older and clearly the man in charge.

"They don't." The mercenary smiled. "This one's clever. He must have backed over his own tracks to confuse us."

"Or flown," the first Tsuirakuan responded.

"If he'd been able to wield magic enough to fly, he'd be more powerful than any of us," the leader of the group sneered. "Even the best Tsuirakuan thaumotechnicians haven't mastered that trick. And if he could, why would he waste time using primitive guns instead of simply blinding the sensor orb?"

The first Tsuirakuan's cheeks flushed. "Alright, I get it. Fine. He didn't simply go up."

"Follow the tracks," the leader ordered. "All of you. Except you." He pointed to the disgraced Tsuirakuan. "You can guard this gap in the defenses until we get a replacement set up."

The man grumbled, but slumped into a semi-watchful position as the rest of the group began following Jamie's tracks into the trees. Being treated as inferior rankled, especially when there were hired mercenaries to do the job he'd just been shafted with. He truly believed in the mission, and in the need to change the Tsuirakuan government forcefully, but if they were going to treat him like this...

The man was still ranting mentally when Jamie dropped out of the tree above him, landing squarely on his head, breaking his neck. She quickly climbed back into the tree and collected Nera from the bough cradle she'd made for her, and slipped inside the compound.

****

Jasmine nodded her agreement with Faye. "I agree." She looked around. "That stand of shrubs might be good."

The three women crept over to the indicated cover. A small game trail led inside, and the three women crouched low as they entered the undergrowth. Within seconds, Jasmine stopped so quickly Faye ended up walking into the woman's backside. After the obligatory apologies, Jasmine gestured ahead. "There's a small cave up here." She sighed. "I have yet to have good luck going inside caves around here."

[Jack Rothwell]

"Well that dank, dark hole is looking like the lesser of two evils to me." Grunted jade from the back of the crawling convoy. "I say we high-tail it in there and hope there's nothing waiting for us inside."

There was a collective murmured agreement and the trio sneaked their way inside, mentally cateloging the place for traps in the dim light. At first glance the cave appeared clean, Jasmine led the group around a sloping bend and came abruptly to a rock face.

"End of the line." she commented.

Thye blacksmith hunkered down with her back against a slightly damp, craggy wall with a knife in her hand and awaited developments.

[Graybeard]

"What's this?" Faye whispered, eyeing something on the floor of the cave. She squinted at it in the dim light ...

"Longbow. Of troll manufacture, from the looks of it. I bet we'll find arrows around here somewhere ... and I also bet we'll find trolls. Not that I have any idea how that will help us against those bastards, of course ..."

[OOC: A very important point is that this bow could NOT have been left by Grope and his companions. They've never ventured that far away from Growf's Drainpipe -- yet. Infer from that what you will...]

[Jack Rothwell]

OOC Geek Jade! GO!/OOC


Jade eyed the weapon in the semi-darkness. It was probably for the best no-one could see the expression on her face. She became suddenly aware of something poking into her thigh from a cleft of stones to her right. Her hand went down and came up holding a monstrosity near three feet long with a point like a small dagger on the end. A troll arrow. Fear and facination held her.

"Unfortunately, Faye. I think you're bang on target. Would you mind if I took a look at that? It's good study for me."

She accepted the bow with a word of thanks, pulled it close to her eyes and stared hard until her vision adjusted to the gloom. She let herself fall into the mindset of what she'd been before her life had turned to chaos; a professional blacksmith. Her eyes drank in the details of the weapons she held, she angled it, weighed it and noted its craftsmanship.

The bow was manufactured to be incredibly resilient, she had no doubts they could drop it off a cliff and it would survive with barely a scratch on the wood. The draw weight, she assessed with a grunt, was easily twice what any human bowman would have had to achieve with their smaller models. The arrow resembled a small spear; combined with the bow and its maximum draw she estimated it would be capable of lifting an average person off the ground and pinning them to the nearest surface.

Serious stuff, in other words.

She handed the bow back to the possible wraith and repeated the details in her head. An idea occured to her.

"I'm beginning to think it might be good practise if we 'confiscated' a few of the toys our quarry are carrying." She said, shifting into a more comfortable position. "I might not be a fancy mage with an arcane encyclopedia but one thing I DO know is weapons." She grinned reminiscing about happier times. "Ha! I did my first commision for the Lorrel Militia when I was fourteen for Luminosita's sake. Get me to a decent forge with one of those staffs and whatever else these guys have got and I'll be able to knock together something beautiful, or at least make copies."

She leaned forward and grinned widely at the older women.

"What do you reckon? Be a hell of a way to turn the tables on the competition, wouldn't it?"